Yes, This Is A Travel Log

Friday morning, Mark and I headed out to Columbus, Ohio to check out The Ohio State University. Ohio State is one of Mark's "backup" schools, and a teacher from Interlochen is actually the head horn professor there. Surprisingly, the drive was shorter than I thought it would be (only five hours), and the campus is one of the most beautiful campuses I've seen that are really, really big (nothing can really compare with the Ivies). It was four days before move-in day, so there were kids everywhere, and I'm not going to lie--I felt like a spy, or a traitor, amongst all that red and grey :-)

The feeling only intensified as we took our seats for the 45 minute presentation. There was a slideshow going and seriously, a lot of it revolved around the rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan. There were slides from the "Beat Michigan" pep rally, statistics about the number of days since Michigan actually beat Ohio State (it's been six years--a record), and just an all around down-on-Michigan attitude. I hate to say it, but in a small way, they were making Michigan look all the better! Supposedly, it is the most famous rivalry between schools.

At the end of the presentation, Gordon Gee, the Mormon president of the school, said, "Come to Ohio State and you'll know what to do when I say 'O-H'." For a moment, there was silence. Then a couple of big, husky-looking guys yelled, "I-O!". Yeah, we'll have to work on that cheer.

Then, we were off for almost a two hour walking tour of the campus. It's such a funny thing to compare the tours from the colleges Ethan visited versus the ones Mark is looking at. Ethan's were small, and literally we could see everything the campus had to offer, and the tour groups themselves were only 10-12 people. The group from Ohio State was divided into 12 groups of people with 10-12 people in each group, and we only saw the basics in two hours. Not that this is about me at all, but I don't think I've had that stressful of an experience on my scooter yet--my legs and arms are still killing me, two days later.

The tour was supposed to end at 3:30, but it didn't, so Mark and I broke off and headed back to the car. He had a lesson scheduled with Bruce Henniss, the horn professor, at 4:00. Mark was nervous, but excited. We found the building, found the office and Mark walked in. I was actually relieved to hear Mr. Henniss say, "Hey Mark!" when he opened the door. Glad that he remembered him.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the lesson was absolutely fantastic. Mark came out with a million things to tell me. He loves Mr. Henniss' teaching style, Mr. Henniss loved Mark's playing, and without coming out and directly saying it, he's already going to take Mark and offer him a scholarship if Mark chooses to audition and come to Ohio State. Wow!

Of course, we must keep everything in perspective. We still have more colleges to see, and Ohio State is lacking a few things that are important. However, it's good to know that Mark will be going to school somewhere (not that I ever had any doubts!)

At 5:30, we met John in the temple parking lot (he had driven down in the afternoon), and we rushed to the Nutter Center in Dayton so that he could pick up his marathon packet.

John is hilarious before a race. He asks me the same questions a million times, he loses things left and right, and he's just completely distracted. Understandably, of course.

The next morning, he was up at 5:45, and we left for the race.

Thankfully, there are no crazy stories this year. Not a one. John even found a back entrance to the race and I dropped him off 30 minutes early. I don't think that's EVER happened.

I headed back to the hotel, woke up Mark, and we headed out to my favorite restaurant, First Watch. Ummmm, just thinking about it, I can taste the crepes :-)

15 minutes early, Mark headed out to the finish line and found John winding his way through the end of the course. I laid down in the car, thinking I would need to wait a couple of hours like normal, but within 30 minutes, they were back. John had a fantastic run. He

wasn't in much pain, he finished at the time he expected, and he was all-around in a good mood. I seriously don't think I've ever seen him so happy at the end of a marathon. Yay for John!

We went back to the hotel, packed up our stuff, John sat in the hot tub for a while, and we headed home. All around, a great weekend!